Adjustable slips and other garments and method of making them



Oct. 30, 1962 R. K. HORNE 3,060,446

ADJUSTABLE SLIPS AND OTHER GARMENTS AND METHOD OF MAKING THEM FiledApril 4, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR @0556 K. Hog/vs BY ATTORNEY R.K. HORNE Oct. 30, 1962 ADJUSTABLE SL IPS AND OTHER GARMENTS AND METHODOF MAKING THEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 4, 1960 I I I I I I I I I In4 I I 'IIIIIIr-T). u: 0,11,111...

INVENTOR ((15862. A. #09116 Uh fi ATTORNEY States I hire This inventionrelates to slips or other garments which have incorporated thereinprovision for increasing the length of the garment.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an article ofwearing apparel and method of making the same, said article having meansfor increasing the length thereof without altering the decorative trimat the lower edge of the garment.

Another object is to provide an article of wearing apparel and method ofmaking the same, said article having means for increasing the lengththereof without displacement of the position of the Waist portion of thearticle, whereby the article of increased size fits properly on thewearer.

A further object is to provide an article of wearing apparel or garmentof the type referred to and a method of making the same, said aticlehaving means for increasing the length thereof by one or more sizes, asdesired, without any sewing operation required, and without alterationof the decorative trim at the bottom of the garment.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of this inventionwill be fully understood from the following description considered inconnection with the accompanying illustrative drawings of the presentlypreferred embodiment of this invention.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a rear perspective view of a garment embodying the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of a portion of the lower part of thegarment, viewing said garment from the outside thereof, and showing thedecorative trim along the lower edge thereof;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the portion of the garment shown inFIG. 2 but showing the inner side thereof;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view illustrating the inner side after it hasbeen lengthened;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view showing the outside of the portion of thegarment of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view, on a larger scale, taken on line 6-6 of FIG.3;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view, on a larger scale, taken on line 7-7 of FIG.4;

FIG. 8 is a top plan View of the lower part or ruffle of the garment inopen position before it is secured to the garment;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of part of the shoulder strap of thegarment of FIG. 1, illustrating the buckles thereof;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view, on a larger scale, taken on line 10-10 ofFIG. 9';

FIG. 11 is an elevational view of a portion of the lower part of thegarment of FIG. 1, illustrating a modification thereof; and

FIG. 12 is a sectional View, on a larger scale, taken on line 1212 ofFIG. 11.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, FIG. 1 illustrates a garment10, here shown as a slip, having a circumferentially continuous orendless trim member of any suitable type, here shown as a ruffie 12,said ruffle being secured to the body or skirt portion 13, of thegarment along the circumferentially extending lower edge 14 thereof. Thegarment has the usual waist portion 16 and is provided with a pair ofadjustable shoulder straps 18.

3,069,446 Patented Oct. 30, 1962 Referring to FIGS. 2, 3 and 6, it isseen that ruffle 12 includes a U-shaped or folded member 20 having anoutside layer or ply 22 of material and an inner layer or ply 24 ofmaterial. Layers 22 and 24 are in face-to-face relation. Garment 10 isprovided with an upturned portion 26 which extends along the lower edge14 of the garment and is secured to the upper ends 19 and 21,respectively, of layers 22 and 24 by a row of stitching 28.

Layer 24 of folded member 20 consists of two sections or parts, an uppersection 30 and a lower section 32, and each of these sections is securedto the other along their confronting edges by a row of cross-stitching34. As illustrated, this row of cross-stitching is constitutedpreferably by a double needle ladder stitch, but it will be understoodthat other types of stitching may be used, for example, a double needlehem stitch or a fagot ting seam stitch, etc. The lower edge of uppersection 30 is provided with an upturned portion 36, and the up per edgeof lower section 32 is provided with a downturned portion 38, each ofsaid portions being stitched to its corresponding section by atwo-needle chain stitch row 40 of stitching, so that said edges arefinished. The rows 40 of stitching are separated vertically from eachother by the loops or ladders 42 of the double needle ladder stitch andit will be noted that the lower edge of section 30 and the upper edge ofsection 32 are separated from each other by the width of the ladders 42.

The above described double needle ladder stitch is formed in thefollowing manner. Sections 30 and 32 are placed in superimposed positionwith the surfaces thereof in face to face contact and with portions 36and 38 lying in unfolded condition in the same plane as its and 38 arethen folded into their respective positions, shown in FIG. 6, and aresecured to their corresponding sections 30 and 32, respectively, by therows of twoneedle chain stitches 40, respectively. p

A strip 44 of decorative material, for example lace, is

secured to the lower edge of layer 22 along the outer surface thereof byrows of stitching 46 and 43, and it is seen that said rows of stitchingdo not pass through lower section 32. An identical decorative strip 44-is secured to the inner surface of lower section 32 along the upper edgethereof by rows of stitching 50 and 52.

When it is desired to increase the length of garment l0, ladders 4-2 ofthe row 34 of double needle ladder stitching are out along the entireperipheral extent of the garment so that lower section 32 fallsdownwardly into the positions shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 7. In saidpositions it is seen that decorative trim 44' of lower section 32 hasmoved from its position inside the garment and behind outside layer 22to a position in vertical line with and below trim 44 so that garment 10still has the same decorative trim along its lower edge as it hadpreviously, before it was lengthened. It will be apparent that thelength of garment 10 has been increased in an amount canal to the len thof lower section 32.

Referring now to FIGS. 11 and 12, there is shown a modification of theinvention wherein the garment may be lengthened a different amountdepending upon the choice or desire of the one who is lengthening thegarment. More particularly, lower section 32 is provided with a similarsection 32' beneath it, and layer 22 of memof lower section 32 bycutting stitching 34 wherein lower section 32' will fall downwardly intoalignment with layer 22 and decorative strip 44" will be positionedalong the lower edge of the garment. If it is desired to increase thelength of the garment by an amount equal to twice the length of lowersection 32, then stitching 34 would be cut so lower sections 32 and 32would fall downwardly into alignment with layer 22 and decorative strip44' would be positioned along the lower edge of the garment. Thus it isseen that the length of garment may be increased below its waistline 16by amounts equal to the length of lower section 32 or by additionalamounts depending upon the number of sections provided in member and thelength of each of said sections.

Referring now to FIGS. 9 and 10, it is seen that shoulder strap 18includes double apertured buckles 54 and 56. Strap 18 is in twosections, the upper section having a loop 58 at one end thereof which isconnected to crossbar 60 of buckle 54, as shown, and the other end ofthis section of the strap is sewed to the upper edge of the garment, atthe front thereof. One end of the lower section of strap 18 is sewed tothe upper edge of garment 10, at the rear thereof, by rows of stitching62, and the other end of this section of the strap is looped throughbuckle 56, as best seen in FIG. 10. More particularly, the strap firstpasses through aperture 64 of buckle 56, then over crossbar 66, throughaperture 68, loops over crossbar 70 of buckle 54, and passes downwardlyand then upwardly through apertures 64 and 68, respectively, of buckle56, and the end of this section of the strap is folded over, as shown at72. It is apparent that by pulling the strap at fold 72 the length ofstrap 18 may be shortened and by pulling leg 74 of the loop, the lengthof the strap may be increased.

Thus by adjusting the length of strap 18 and increasing the size thereofby one, which increase in size takes place above the waist portion 16 ofthe garment, and by utilizing member 20, as previously described, toincrease the length of the garment one size below the waist portionthereof, the garment has been increased in length of two sizes and thewaist portion thereof remains stationary so the fit of said garment isstill correct even though the length of the garment has been increasedby two sizes.

Referring now to FIG. 8, member 20 is shown in an unfolded conditionbefore it is secured to the lower edge of the garment along line 14thereof. Before being secured to the garment, ends 76 and 78 of member20 are secured to each other, by a row of stitching, to form a seam 80,said seam being shown in FIG. 1, so that the member is acircumferentially continuous single ply of material. Member 20 is thenfolded into the form of a U along fold line 82 so that layers 22 and 24are in confronting face-to-face relation. Layers 22 and 24 are thensecured to folded-over portion 26 of garment 10 along their upper edges19 and 21, respectively, by the previously mentioned row of stitching28. Thus it is seen that before member 20 is secured to garment 10, ends76 and 78 are first sewed together to form seam 80. If this were notdone first and member 20 was secured to garment 10 and then ends 76 and78 sewed together to form seam 80, upon the cutting of the ladders ofstitching 34 to increase the length of the garment, seam 80 would alsobe cut and member 20 would open. This would also occur if member 20 werefirst folded along fold line 82 and then ends 76 and 78 were sewedtogether.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that various other specific embodimentswill occur to those skilled in the art in View of the presentdisclosure. Accordingly, I do not wish to be limited specifically to thedescribed embodiments except to the extent which may be required by thescope of the appended claims. Further, it will be understood that theinvention is not only applicable to garments having skirt portions butis also applicable to other types of garments, for example, petticoats,half-slips and skirts, etc.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is:

1. In an article of wearing apparel including a main body portion havinga lower circumferentially endless edge, means for increasing the lengthof said body portion comprising a circumferentially endless memberhaving an upper marginal edge portion, said member comprising inner andouter layers, a row of stitching securing said upper marginal edgeportion of said member to said body portion along said lower edgethereof, said inner layer of material having separably connected upperand lower parts, another row of stitching passing through said upper andlower parts only for said separable connection of said upper and lowerparts to each other, said lower part having an upper edge, and adecorative trim member secured to the inner side of said lower part andeXtending upwardly to said upper edge of said lower part, said lowerpart being movable to a position below said outer layer of material uponthe cutting of said other row of stitching to increase the length ofsaid body portion and display said decorative trim member.

2. In an article of wearing apparel including a main body portion havinga lower circumferentially endless edge, means for increasing the lengthof said body portion comprising a circumferentially endless memberhaving an upper marginal edge portion, said member comprising inner andouter layers, a row of stitching securing said upper marginal edgeportion of said member to said body portion along said lower edgethereof, said inner layer of material having at least two pairs ofparts, each pair of parts having separably connected upper and lowerportions and another row of stitching passing through said upper andlower portions only for said separable connection of said upper andlower portions to each other, each of said lower portions being movableto a position below said outer layer of material upon the cutting of thecorresponding row of said other stitching, whereby the length of saidbody portion may be increased by different amounts.

3. In an article of wearing apparel including a main body portion havinga lower circumferentially endless edge, means for increasing the lengthof said body portion comprising a circumferentially endless foldedmember having an upper marginal edge portion, said member comprisinginner and outer layers, a row of stitching securing said upper marginaledge portion of said member to said body portion along said lower edgethereof, a decorative trim member secured to the outer surface of saidouter layer and extending along the folded edge of said folded member,said inner layer of material having separably connected upper and lowerparts, each of said parts having an edge in spaced confronting relationwith the edge of the other part, a row of double needle ladder stitchingpassing through said upper and lower parts only for said separableconnection of said upper and lower parts to each other, said lower parthaving an upper edge, and another decorative trim member secured to theinner side of said lower part and extending upwardly to said upper edgeof said lower part, said lower part being movable to a position belowsaid outer layer of material upon the cutting of said row of ladderstitching to increase the length of said body portion and display saiddecorative trim member.

4. Means adapted to be secured to the lower circumferentially endlessedge of an article of wearing apparel for increasing the length thereof,comprising a circumferentially endless member having an upper marginaledge portion adapted to be secured to said lower edge of said article ofwearing apparel by a row of stitching, said member comprising inner andouter layers, said inner layer of material having separably connectedupper and lower parts, another row of stitching passing through saidupper and lower parts only for said separable connection of said upperand lower parts to each other, said lower part having an upper edge anda decorative trim member secured to the inner side of said lower partand extending upwardly to said upper edge of said lower part, said lowerpart being movable to a position below said outer layer of material uponthe cutting of said other row of stitching to increase the length ofsaid body portion of said Wearing apparel.

5. Means adapted to be secured to the lower circumferentially endlessedge of an article of wearing apparel for increasing the length thereof,comprising a circumferentially endless folded member having an uppermarginal edge portion adapted to be secured to said lower edge of saidarticle of wearing apparel by a row of stitching, said member comprisinginner and outer layers, a decorative trim member secured to the outersurface of said outer layer and extending along the folded edge of saidfolded member, said inner layer of material having separably connectedupper and lower parts, each of said parts having an edge in spacedconfronting relation With the edge of the other part, a row of doubleneedle ladder stitching passing through said upper and lower parts onlyfor said separable connection of said upper and lower parts to eachother, said lower part having an upper edge, and another decorative trimmember secured to the inner side of said lower part and extendingupwardly to said upper edge of said lower part, said lower part beingmovable to a position below said outer layer of material upon thecutting of said row of ladder stitching to increase the length of saidbody portion and display said decorative trim member.

6. A method of making an article of wearing apparel having a skirtprovided with means for increasing the length thereof, said methodcomprising providing two strips of material of different widths, placingsaid strips in superimposed relation with the surfaces thereof in faceto face contact, securing said strips of material to each other along acommon edge by a row of loose lock stitching, separating said stripsfrom each other to form separate strips of material extending in thesame plane and connected to each other in spaced relation along theirconfronting edges by the resulting ladders of the loose lock stitch andthereby forming a strip of material having an upper part and a lowerpart secured to each other by said resulting ladders, joining the endsof said layer of material to each other to form a circurnferentiallycontinuous member, folding said member to form inner and outer layers,respectively, of material with said upper part and a portion of saidlower part forming said inner layer of material, and the remainingportion of said lower part forming said outer layer, and securing theupper free edges of said inner and outer layers, respectively, to thelower edge of said skirt circumferentially thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,274,382 Richman Feb. 24, 1942 2,598,622 Tolkin May 27, 1952 2,602,163Davenport July 8, 1952 2,717,395 Holshouser Sept. 13, 1955 2,724,120Biern Nov. 22, 1955 2,883,667 Kraus Apr. 28, 1959

